Paul Streitz - Oxford: Son of Queen Elizabeth I

OXFORD

Son ofQueen Elizabeth I

By Paul Streitz

Oxford Institute Press

For Hilda and Natasha

On July 21, 1548 in the early hours of themorning, Princess Elizabeth gave birth to a son. The father wasThomas Seymour, her stepfather. The child was placed in the home ofJohn de Vere 17th Earl of Oxford. The child was raised was Edwardde Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. He is better known to the world byhis pen name, "William Shakespeare."

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-PublicationData

Streitz, Paul, 1943

Oxford: Son of Queen Elizabeth I

Includes bibliographical references andindex.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2001129201

Paperback: ISBN 978-0-9713498-0-3

Seventh Printing

Paperback edition of this book can be foundon Amazon.com

Copyright 2001 by Paul Streitz

Oxford InstitutePress (links to other authorship books of interest canbe found here.)

8 William Street

Darien, CT 06820

Cover Design: Paul Streitz

Cover Art: R.C. Bailey

Published by Paul Streitz at Smashwords

Shakespeare, William, 15641616, Authorship,Oxford Theory

Oxford, Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of,15501564, Authorship

De Vere, Edward, 15481604, Biography

Tudor, Elizabeth, 15331603, Biography

Dramatists, EnglishEarly modern,15001700Biography

NobilityGreat BritainBiography.

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Table of Contents

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In Appreciation

Mr. Russell des Cognets (1923) of Lexington,Kentucky has been a steadfast supporter of the Earl of Oxford asShakespeare for fifty years. He first became acquainted with Oxfordin 1949. He has collected several copies of the English schoolteachers, J. Thomas Looney, 1920 book Shake-speare Identified inEdward de Vere, the seventeenth earl of Oxford.

He has been a patron of many other Oxfordianwriters, scholars and educational efforts. This includes supportfor William Plumer Fowlers pamphlet, Phoenix and Turtle, whichPercy Allen believes the loveliest of all of Shakespearespoems.

Dorothy and Charlton Ogburn, who wrote thebiography of Oxford: This Star of England: WilliamShake-speare Man of the Renaissance and their son Charlton, Jr.,who wrote The Mysterious William Shakespeare, were hisfriends in the Oxfordian movement. He also had a long friend-shipwith Mr. Gordon Cyr, past president of the Shakespeare-OxfordSociety. Mr. des Cognets was a supporter of the SOS newsletter formany years.

Russell fondly remembers being in Englandduring War II in the 104th Division, U.S. 1st Army. In Europe as aninfantryman, he participated in the capture of Cologne and theRemagen Bridge on the Rhine. He vividly recalls liberating theNordhausen concentration camp near the Elbe River.

At the present time Russell is deeplyinvolved with assisting Concordia Universitys new HumanitiesBuilding in Portland, Oregon. With its emphasis on Shakespeareauthorship studies, it will be one of the largest, most uniqueacademic authorship centers in the world. Mr. des Cognets has madepossible the des Cognets-Cowles Shakespeare studies center, whichwill hold papers, books, research and academic materials andprovide study space for Shakespearean scholars.

Mr. des Cognets is a 1941 graduate of theWoodbury Forest Preparatory School in Orange Virginia and theUniversity of Kentucky in 1948. For many years he was a breeder ofmilking shorthorn cattle, and also bred thoroughbreds for theKeeneland sales ring. In 1979, he married Julia Crouch ofLexington. They have a son, Russell III (1981).

Mr. Russell des Cognets generous support hasmade this book possible.

In Acknowledgement

This work rests on the shoulders of manyscholars and researchers who patiently endured the derision of theestablished academic world. They have produced groundbreaking workthat will be more appreciated in coming years. Among thoseever-living Shakespearean scholars are Delia Bacon, GeorgeGreenwood, Mark Twain, B.M. Ward, J. Thomas Looney, Eva TurnerClark, Charles Wisner Barrell, Charlton Ogburn, Dorothy Ogburn, andCharlton Ogburn, Jr.

My special thanks to Elisabeth Sears for herpioneering work on Oxford; to Pidge Sexton; to Stephanie Caruanaand Elisabeth Sears for their exhaustive work on Oxfords earlyliterary history; to Katherine Chiljan for her list of dedicationsto Oxford; to Robert Brazil for his work on Shakespeares printers;to Barbara Burris for her work on the Ashbourne Portrait; to MarkAlexander for his insights on Shakespeares legal world; to VincentCuenca for advice on the Spanish language; to Professor Tom Hollandfor his Latin translations; to Nina Greene for her Internetdiscussion group and to all those who participated in debates onthe issues found in this book; to Blanche Parker of the DarienLibrary for her assistance; to Robin Matchett for hisprognostication on Oxfords birth; to Susan Harris of the BodleianLibrary and Lori Johnson of the Folger Shakespeare Library; toGretchen Haynes and Franklin Cook for their editorial and editingguidance; to Eileen Duffin, Marilyn Clarke, Natasha Streitz, DavidYuhas and Carla Johnson for their proofing skills; to MarilynClarke for her perceptive comments on Oxford; and to HankWhittemore for his encouragement, his comments, and his invaluableassistance.

Gentle Reader

The British monarchy remains out of bounds,more so than other social institutions. Indeed, one could say thata conspiracy of silence surrounds the extraordinary and probablyunique hierarchical system of privilege that emanates from themonarch. Why? Because those who are close enough to see what goeson behind the palace walls keep their lips buttoned in the hopethat they too might be co-opted into that system via highly covetedawards. Blabbermouths are not knighted. Nor are they retained asfriends or servants. Neither do they keep the affection ofprinces..Ilse Hayden

It is almost impossible to write a balancedstudy of Elizabeth I. The historiographical tradition is solaudatory that it is hard to avoid either floating with the currentof applauding opinion or creating an unseemly splash by swimmingtoo energetically against it. The marketing of Elizabeth began inher own reign, with the efforts of Protestants, officialpropagandists, and profit-seeking balladeers. Enthusiastic praisewas turned into structured history by William Camden, who wrote hisAnnales in the 1610s. Camden formulated thehistoriographical agenda for the reign, and historians have usuallyfollowed his scheme: Elizabeth inherited chaos at home and threatsfrom abroad, but with her own foresight and skill she imposedunifying solutions to national problems. The reign of Elizabeth wasthus a golden age of progress, in which a careful queen inspiredher people to greatness and checked any divisive militanttendencies. The Camden version has dominated interpretations ofElizabeth over the past century: it was followed in most of thealmost 90 biographies published since 1890.Christopher Haigh

It is inconceivable that anyone who has[encountered genius] could maintain the belief that genius is oftenheld back by social factors. If genius is not given form bycontext, it will make its own. It is this aggressive reordering ofcontext that is genius. It is simply unimaginable that context,whether the intellectual matrix facing the genius or the social andeconomic factors touching his life, could dissuade himStevenGoldberg